A Short History

Gaming pieces and their associated games have been a part of everyday life across the world for thousands of years. From 4000 BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt they spread westward to the Mediterranean (4; 17), and were used as a form of entertainment, for practicing battle strategies and often as part of grave-good packages (17).

My study focused on gaming pieces in Britain from the 5th-12th centuries. This period was one of dynamic change in Britain with invasions, migrations, increasing contacts with Scandinavia and mainland Europe and a time of religious change with the widespread adoption of Christianity. It is likely that these historic events caused the assimilation of various fashions from those arriving in the British Isles, and along with the importance and rules of religion, this had an impact on gaming pieces. Gaming pieces could commonly be obtained from pebbles, stone, brick, pottery, shell, seeds, beans and many other materials, and these can now be frequently overlooked in archaeology or often have been lost. But more ornately fashioned gaming pieces, made specifically for use on elaborate and permanent board also existed (17).

Tabula was one of the most popular games in Roman Britain (Figure 1) and is a predecessor of the modern game of backgammon. Although it is still a debated topic, it is thought that board games developed from these Roman versions through contacts with mainland Europe and Scandinavia (12). The word Tabula was adopted into Germanic languages (17) and the rules and strategy of the Romans board game lives on in other, later games.

Tafl is thought to have originated in Scandinavia, where it was popular by the 9th and 10th centuries (18, 24) and has many variations across the Germanic world. Several versions are encountered in Icelandic saga material such as Halatafl and Hnettafl and in English archaeology as Hnefatafl (17, 24). Despite being popular with the Romans, it has been noted that with the arrival of the Germanic migrants, the game of Tabula became absent in historic and archaeological contexts in the Early medieval period.

Images of the game appear on runestones, for example the eleventh century Ockelbo runestone in Sweden which shows two men, one drinking from a horn, playing Tafl. Gaming boards for Tafl have been found in several wealthy, furnished Scandinavian Viking Age graves such as the boat chamber grave from Hedeby, the ship grave from Gokstad, several of the graves from Birka, and the ship burial at Ladby (1, 2, 11, 14, 16). Although it is not known when Tafl became popular in the British Isles it is thought that it may have come across with the first Germanic migrations in the 5th century (9). It is certain that, just as it was in Scandinavia, the game was popular by the 9th and 10th centuries in the British Isles, and boards such as the well preserved Ballinderry example from Ireland (Figure 2) at that time show this (13).

Another not too dissimilar game called Nine Men’s Morris (figure 3) is known to have been played in Sweden by the 11th century (13). The game is also known to be played in Britain after the Norman Conquest and was well established by AD 1300 (17), being especially popular in Dublin (24). It is not known when this game originated and the variety of the types of gaming pieces found in the archaeological record are in some cases identical with Tafl pieces and therefore without a gaming board it is difficult to determine which game such pieces were used for (9, 27).

As previously mentioned, Tabula had been a popular game in the Roman period, but was noted to have been absent from Anglo-Saxon England (17). Sets have been found in Scandinavia, for example in the 6th-11th century graves at Valsgärde and the 9th-10th century graves at Birka in Sweden. It is now thought to have made a comeback in the late Anglo-Saxon period in England when it was popular with all social classes. However, tablemen are difficult to date because of their simple ornamentation and the unchanging nature of their design. Previous studies have therefore argued that it is unclear as to whether this comeback occurred in the late Anglo-Saxon period or with the Norman invasion (18, 23).

Chess originated in India around AD 500 (13, 26), and is thought to have spread through the Mediterranean and into Germanic countries, where it was originally known as Skaktafl. It is believed to have reached England with King Cnut of Denmark after his invasion in the early eleventh century. He is mentioned in the thirteenth century saga Heimskringlas to have been playing a chess match with his kinsman Ulf. After Canute makes a bad move and loses his knight, he insists he should be allowed to make the move again. Ulf instead abandons the game, and this lack of deference to the king results in him later found stabbed to death in a church, on the orders of Cnut (13, 21). Chess pieces in Scandinavia do not appear until the second half of the twelfth century, and so there are several conflicting theories on the date of the arrival of chess to England (21). The upper-class would have used the realistic or faunal motif chess and Tabula gaming pieces, often made from deer antler or bone, although there were less lavishly decorated examples with geometric patterns (8), including the popular ring-and-dot designs. It could be that this shows a socio-cultural fashion component, that the once artistically and lavish activity of board games used by the upper classes had, by the 11th century, spread to other layers of society.

At this time chess sets were also acceptable as ecclesiastical and monastic possessions, although this was not to last (22). In AD 1061 Italian bishop Petrus Damiani, denounced his fellow Bishop of Florence for chess playing. This prefigured a series of official ecclesiastical prohibitions all over Europe from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. But it was argued that chess was a game of skill and not for gambling and so the popularity of the game was allowed to continue and remained popular amongst clergy and educated higher classes (26). Throughout the 11th-13th centuries, chess in fact becomes more popular in Europe, and the gaming pieces move away from the Arabic-style abstract pieces and on to the more recognisable figural designs (15). With the introduction of chess the Tafl games died out (17). To be skilled at chess was an expected achievement of the elite, one that the 12th century Earl Rögnvald of Orkney, who was born Kali Kolsson in Norway, boasts of in his verse recording his nine skills; ‘I am quick at playing chess’. Chess was very appropriate for playing in court, and the new western version reflected the cast of kings, queens, bishops, knights and foot soldiers (8). The most famous of chess pieces are the Lewis chessmen, which was made up of at least four sets of chessmen from the same workshop (6).

Board games became considered a chivalrous and gentlemanly pursuit in the middle ages, as well as simple fun. They were battles in miniature and placed combat between two opponents in the context of rules and sportsmanship. They encouraged strategic thinking, as well as the ability to win and lose graciously (8, 23) and they were a symbol of elite warriors.

References

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